


Secrets In The Dark

by Skye_Willows



Series: Deviant Reality [4]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Cole isn't quite a perfect child, Domestic Fluff, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Hank and Connor are soft for each other, Hank and Connor get busted, M/M, Slight Awkwardness, We've finally got our family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-30 00:44:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21419404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_Willows/pseuds/Skye_Willows
Summary: Cole has a tradition: when Connor goes into stasis, he goes on a midnight run to top up his secret stash of sweets in his room.His latest venture goes awry when he catches Hank and Connor together; cue the family discussion.
Relationships: Cole Anderson & Hank Anderson & Connor, Hank Anderson/Connor
Series: Deviant Reality [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1123752
Comments: 17
Kudos: 163





	Secrets In The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> **Please note: While this fic takes place during one of my series, it can be read in isolation. If you are reading this without having read ** _Divergence Catalyst, Freedom, _ **and ** _What We've Always Known_ ** all you need to know is that Cole is alive in this universe after some time travel shenanigans. That's it! **
> 
> Hi gang! Time for more of my favourite family, and it's about time that Cole learns that his dad and his favourite aren't just good friends. You're gonna cringe, smile and laugh and catch massive feels at some of this. Don't say I didn't warn you!

** _December 21th 2038  
Countdown Until Timeline Realignment [-00:05:25:08:31:02]_ **

Cole had his midnight snack runs down to an art now. He’d mastered them before the revolution since his dad was always so tired after work, but having Connor come to live with them had changed the problem quite a lot. It had been easy before: make sure it was sometime between midnight and 1 am and his dad would be out for the count.

Since Connor was an android, it meant that he was often still active through the night. It took a little observation and listening in to learn that he went into stasis every eighth night, and after nearly being busted on his first two attempts, Cole had learned how to sneak around Connor too. His sensors were set off if he detected rapid movement or significant noise, so Cole had to be steady and silent to get away with his haul.

He’d missed out on his last scheduled attempt because Connor had stopped Hank from buying as much of their traditional ‘junk food’, but Hank had managed to pull a fast one of his own one day since Cole had discovered that his dad had topped up their ‘secret spots’ – a creation between the two humans after Connor had declared war on their unhealthy snacks.

It was just as well Cole loved Connor as much as he did, because his sugar rushes were a necessary part of life. Trying to remove them from his life was _almost _unforgivable.

Seriously, Connor was one of only three people that made it on to that list, and Cole wasn’t quite sure why he wasn’t as angry with Connor as he would have been if his dad or Aunt Faye. He still hadn’t figured it out.

Still, that brought him to that night’s ‘heist’. Cole needed to sneak out of his room towards the desk in the living room, and grab the box stashed in the false bottom of one of the drawers. He’d still never learned from his dad why the desk from his teenage years had a false bottom, only being told that he’d understand someday.

Well, whatever the reason, Cole was glad for it now. It was a great hiding spot and something that Connor wouldn’t think to look for, he’d already scanned four out of their nine hidey holes.

A quick glance at Cole’s phone showed that it was 12:38 am. Perfect, Connor should have gone into stasis almost two hours ago and his dad would have headed to bed a while ago since he had an early shift tomorrow. This was his chance.

Opening his door gently, Cole was bemused by the lights still being on in the living room and reflecting into the hallway. Connor didn’t need the use of them since he could see in the dark, so did that mean his dad was still up? That was annoying, no way was Cole going to be able to do anything while he was awake. Soft laughter coming from further in the house caught Cole by surprise and he slowly drew open his door a little more to try and see into the front room.

Hank and Connor were both sitting on the sofa at opposite ends, talking between themselves while the android was giggling away at something Hank was sharing with him. That wasn’t what really caught Cole’s attention though: it was how their arms were lying draped across the back of the couch with their fingers entwined.

Cole stared at them in total shock for he didn’t know how long before Connor shook his head fondly and leant forward to kiss Hank. The android shuffled closer and the pair were soon right next to each other, continuing to whisper and share easy kisses in between. It seemed wrong to continue watching them, so Cole slowly withdrew and closed the door to his bedroom again.

As soon as it was shut though, he let out a quiet and jubilant whoop.

“_Yes! I knew it!”_

* * *

Connor froze in the living room and Hank noticed, bringing his free hand up to cup the android’s cheek. “Con? What’s wrong, baby?” he asked in mild concern, having noticed that wasn’t a good freeze.

Not exactly sure how to word it, Connor looked over the back of the couch to Cole’s door before facing Hank again. “Hank, we…I think we fucked up a bit.”

Surprised at the statement, Hank looked at Connor strangely. “How do you mean, sweetheart?”

“We waited too long – Cole knows about us.” Hank went pale and looked towards the door in trepidation, but Connor placed a consoling hand on the human’s knee. “If it helps, I just heard him cheering from behind his door. I think he’s quite pleased by the revelation, and isn’t that surprised.”

Hank stared at him in shock. “Wait, are you kidding me?”

“His direct quote is ‘Yes! I knew it!’” Connor replayed in Cole’s voice, which had Hank wincing.

“Con, I love you, but please don’t ever recreate our son’s voice like that,” he groaned. “It’s weird enough when you do it for fun with movie quotes, let alone with Cole.”

Connor hid his reaction to Hank’s statement about calling Cole ‘their’ son: it wasn’t the time to get overwhelmed by that, and turned his attention back to their current predicament. “Okay, I won’t, but that’s not the focus of right now.” He reached up to cup Hank’s face. “Cole know about us, Hank, and I think he’s actually quite happy with the revelation. I guess all we have to debate now is how we talk to him about it.”

The older man let out a long breath as he slumped against the back of the sofa, to which Connor curled in next to him. Hank smiled and wrapped an arm around Connor before he spoke again. “Con, I don’t know how to deal with this. I’ve barely even had a date, let alone a relationship for as long as I’ve had Cole. He’s…he’s never known me to have a partner, it’s always just been us. I’m not sure he realises how it would change everything.”

Musing on that, Connor looked up at Hank to see the concern on his face. “Are you worried about your relationship with Cole suffering as a result of ours?” he asked softly.

Hank held Connor tighter and kissed his hair. “No, so don’t you dare start feeling guilty about our relationship, sweetheart. I’m just worried that Cole won’t be happy with things evolving with an extra person in our family.”

“I don’t think it will cause too many ripples in the dynamics between all of us, will it? We’re all close already,” Connor wondered, suddenly worried if he’s underestimated the effects of he and Hank’s romance with regards to Cole.

“Normally I would say that was wishful thinking, but I really don’t know how Cole is going to react. Given how close he and I are, it would be a reasonable guess to say that he’d get jealous about my attention being split, but…” Hank smiled and nuzzled into Connor’s hair more. “I swear that kid loves you than he does me so I’m willing to believe that he’s supportive, but this is going to be new territory for a while. Even something as simple as you sitting Cole will be different if he regards you as a ‘paternal figure’, rather than just a close family friend.”

Well, that was twice that Hank had mentioned it so…

“Hank, do you-” Connor cut himself off with a blush, something that Hank found adorable, and the older man nudged him in encouragement.

“What’s up, baby?” Hank asked softly. “Tell me.”

Connor sat up and faced Hank, his expression cautious. “That’s the second time you’ve alluded to the fact that I could be considered Cole’s other parent. I’m just…surprised.”

Realising Connor’s hesitance, Hank smiled at him warmly and cupped his cheek. “Con, I know that you love Cole. You’ve told both he and I more than once, and I can see from how you are with him that you adore him.” He brought Connor in for a for a slow kiss before pulling back to reassure him more. “If you don’t want that it’s not an issue, I know a kid is a massive respons-”

Another kiss cut Hank’s rambling off and Connor looked at him lovingly as they parted. “Hank, that was never the issue in the slightest. I would love to be more of a parent to Cole, but I never would have asked. He’s_your_son, and I know he means more to you than anything. I’m beyond honoured that you think I’m worthy of that.”

“You love him, sweetheart, and you would do anything for him. That’s all I could ever ask of someone who would be Cole’s other parent.” The two sat with smiles on their faces after the conversation, absorbing the enormity of the change, but Connor soon looked over to Cole’s room. “From what I’m hearing, it sounds like Cole is still awake. Shall we go and talk to him?”

“In a minute, Con, I’m just curious as to why he was up still. He’s not one to need the bathroom through the night,” Hank wondered, suddenly concerned that something might have been wrong.

Connor sighed and stood. “He was no doubt coming through to top up the sweet stash in his bedroom.”

Hank turned to Connor and blinked in confusion. “How the fuck do you know that, babe?”

“Because he’s been doing it since I moved in, from what I can tell. During my second stasis cycle in the house, my audio alert went off to movement of something other than Sumo. I quickly realised it was Cole and watched to see what he was up to. He’s been doing it every stasis cycle since, Cole has worked out my routine I’m sure. I was due for one tonight, but when you said that you weren’t tired and just wanted to talk, it fell out of my head…”

His face crumpled a little and Connor sighed. “I’m sorry, Hank. If I’d thought, I could have made sure we weren’t caught.”

“Hey, none of that, sweetheart,” Hank chided while kissing Connor softly. “In all honesty, we should have told Cole before now. I think we both know that this is a long term thing, all that has been stopping us before now is fear of him not being accepting of the concept of us as a couple. If you really heard that reaction from him…then I think we’ve both underestimated Cole in a way,” he chuckled.

That made Connor feel a little better and he stole another brief kiss. “I really shouldn’t have given how Cole has always been so accepting of me,” Connor admitted. “I just got so caught up in all the research that I’ve done which indicates that children are generally not accepting of their parents taking on new partners and all the issues that it causes that I forgot to taking into account who Cole is.”

“You and me both, honey,” Hank smiled while looking over to Cole’s door. “Shall we go and talk to him?”

“We will, but I need to ask you something first, Hank.” The older man recognised that tone of voice and stiffened.

“Ummm, can I already plead the Fifth here, Con?” he asked timidly, already knowing where this was going.

Connor’s eyebrow rose. “What stash of sweets was Cole looking for?” The words came out reproachfully and Hank sighed while pointing to the desk.

“Second bottom drawer on the right, there’s a catch at the back which operates a false bottom,” Hank admitted as Connor stood. The android marched over to the aforementioned drawer and pulled it out smoothly despite the wood’s age, reaching in to find the described latch. Once it was opened, Connor managed to tip the apparent bottom to reveal another section a couple of inches deep which was jammed with four bags of various confectionery.

Something else caught the attention of Connor’s scanners however and he snatched the bags out before hurled them at Hank, who caught them with an ‘oof’. “Do you care to explain to me why there are various other ‘_fluids’_in this drawer, Hank?” he growled quietly, to which the older man blushed fiercely.

“How the **_fuck_**can you tell that, Connor?” he muttered back, cheeks aflame.

“My scanners can pick up remnants of any samples on surfaces that have been improperly cleaned for up to year before exposure to air makes them break down. The airtight nature of this compartment means that they have been preserved to a point that I can still identify their existence,” Connor explained while taking a swipe with his fingers and analysing the results. His eyes hardened more as he turned back to the lieutenant.

“It’s bad enough that you helped Cole hide sweets, but to put them somewhere which has traces of both lube and semen?!” he hissed, to which Hank’s embarrassment grew.

“Teenagers are renowned for being lazy,” he argued lamely. “If I’d known there was traces of all that shit still in there, I’d have pulled it all out! Cole’s the one who put it all in there and told me about it! How was I going to explain to my son that he shouldn’t use it because that’s where I kept all my sex toys hidden when I was not much older than him?!”

Groaning at too many horrific thoughts at once, Hank stood and dropped the bags on the table. “Look, can you chew me out about this later? We’ve kinda got a bigger issue to deal with right now,” Hank pointed out, noticing that Connor was still scowling. “I’ll even tell you where the other stash points are so that this doesn’t happen again, all right? Can’t believe that he’s been up to this for so long, that kid is way too smart for his age.”

Connor relented and relaxed his posture with a sigh. “Okay, you’re right. We’ll talk to Cole and then we’ll be having a discussion ourselves. Do…” His confidence slumped a little. “Shall I wait here while you speak with him?”

Shaking his head, Hank offered Connor a hand. “Nah, we’re doing this together, baby. This is our news after all, and it affects all three of us. You’re as much a part of this family as us.” Smiling softly, Connor took the outstretched hand and followed Hank’s lead as the older man went up to Cole’s door. A questioning look at Connor led to the android nodding his head to confirm that Cole was still awake before Hank knocked.

“Hey, kiddo. Can we come in and talk? Con and I owe you an explanation,” Hank asked softly, listening up against the door for the soft ‘yeah’ in reply. He opened it to see Cole sitting up on his bed, looking at Hank and Connor a little sheepishly.

“Am I in trouble?” Cole muttered as the other two came to sit down on opposite sides of his bed.

After sharing a look, Hank went on. “We’re gonna be having a chat, bud, but not right now. Firstly, we need to apologise to you.”

Cole blinked at them in confusion. “Huh? What for, Dad?”

“For not being honest with you about…us,” Hank said, struggling for words. Connor reached over and put a reassuring hand on Hank’s and gave him a small smile, which helped. “I’m not sure what you saw, but I’m sure that you’ve worked out that Connor and I aren’t just friends anymore. We actually haven’t been for a while,” he went on, making sure Cole understood.

“You’re in love, aren’t you?”

The question blindsided both men. It was Connor who recovered first and nodded at Cole, Hank still a little stunned at it being asked so bluntly. “Yes, we are, Cole,” the android whispered, to which he was then equally shocked when Cole shuffled around and all but threw himself at Connor for a hug.

“I knew it! I knew you weren’t just friends! I told Aunt Faye last month that you were more than friends but she didn’t say anything!” he chirped excitedly.

Coming back to his senses, Hank laughed and ruffled Cole’s hair. “Well, that’ll be because we asked her not to. We wanted to tell you when the time was right, but you beat us to the punch on that one,” he chuckled, to which Cole looked at him in confusion.

“Why would you have to wait until the time was right? What’s bad about this?” Cole asked in confusion.

“Cole, this does have a few potential hurdles in it,” Connor told him softly. “One, your dad and I are still learning to navigate our relationship while I discover who I am, which we’re both very aware of. Two, android still aren’t fully recognised legally yet, and we don’t know what sort of reception a romance between a human and an android will receive…” He then pulled back and smiled shyly at the boy.

“And lastly, we didn’t want to change things for you too much. Having me move in was a large enough addition, let alone learning that your dad and I were a couple. There’s been so much happening that we didn’t want to overwhelm you, or ourselves,” Connor tried to explain.

Mulling it over for a few seconds, Cole finally shrugged. “Guess I’m not old enough to understand a lot of other things that go with something like that, but I know that I love both of you, and I’m really happy that you’re together. Dad’s been so much happier since you arrived, Connor, so as long as that stays, I’m happy too.”

Beyond moved, Hank wrapped himself around his son and partner to bring the three of them together. “I don’t know how I got so lucky with you, Cole, but I’ve never been thankful and proud of you,” he murmured softly, causing Cole to squirm a little.

“Dad…don’t embarrass me…” the boy muttered before pulling back to look between the two men again. “Wait, does this mean I have two Dads now?”

Connor’s systems tripped for a second and he looked at Hank, lost for a second as the older man beamed. “He’s whatever you want him to be, Cole,” he said lovingly, which had Connor smiling. He remembered telling Hank that during the revolution and the significance wasn’t lost on him.

Turning back to Connor, Cole smiled at him. “Can you be my Dad too, Connor?”

Laughing joyfully, Connor brought Cole in for a fearsome hug. “Of course I will,” he whispered.

Hank and Connor couldn’t believe just how well this had all gone – and wondered why they’d ever been worried in the first place. They both knew that Cole was a special kid, they shouldn’t have doubted him.

* * *

In the morning, Cole woke up to find out that his alarm clock had been turned off and a bag of sweets was lying next to his phone on the bedside table.

_Shhhh, this can be our little secret. _

_Your Dad thinks I’m still mad at him for all of your stashes, so hide this one as best you can. If you promise not to steal anymore from around the house, we’ll work out an allowance for you every week._

_PS, he’s convinced me that phoning in to say that you are too sick for school today is acceptable after last night. Think of where you want to spend the day._

_Love you, Dad (Connor)_

Cole beamed while diving into the bag of sweets and taking out a handful, deciding to just listen to how his two dads were laughing at something through the house as Sumo barked.

It was totally worth getting caught and listening to whatever lecture was coming later, Cole couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Come check me out on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/SkyeWillows) and [Tumblr](https://skyewillows.tumblr.com), or ask for my Discord to scream at me on there! All screams welcome!
> 
> I am a slave to all forms of feedback (kudos, subs, bookmarks and especially comments), so please feel free to indulge me.
> 
> Until the next time everyone!


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